Pregnancy as Harm?

July 18, 2012 //
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Pregnancy can be many things.  It can be a shock, a planned event, a burden or a blessing. But is it harm? Dr. Rory Kraft penned a column at the Huffington Post calling for society to recognize pregnancy as harm to women. His conclusions offer a clarion call for society to acknowledge the impact of pregnancy and to support women as they make this life transition.  He states:

We all need to be aware of the special vulnerabilities of the pregnant — not only in the physical sense of encouraging pregnant women from refraining from sky diving or riding roller coasters, or recognizing a woman’s need by giving up of a seat on public transportation, but also in the emotional and intellectual sense of recognizing the othering that is occurring. As we focus more on the various aspects of life that are changed by pregnancy, we should come to an understanding of the vulnerabilities of the woman and act on a social responsibility to address these vulnerabilities exposed by the harm of pregnancy.

Dr. Kraft and I are on the same page as far as his conclusions go.  We have a social responsibility to support pregnant women, but where do his ideas concerning pregnancy as harm come from? In the professor’s case, case law.  In the full version of the article, Dr. Kraft explores case law establishing a precedent where pregnancy was considered an injury when rape victims were impregnated by the aggressors. In the full-length version of the article, Kraft transitions from case law to the Western medical literature.  Here he presents a dire picture of women and the dangers of pregnancy, not excluding the normal physiological changes that alter physical functions. He uses this view of pregnancy as harm to make a case for a societal obligation to assist pregnant women.

Dr. Kraft isn’t solely culpable for Western medicine’s depiction of pregnancy. Western medicine has taken great pains to paint a picture of pregnancy as a harmful, treacherous, diseased condition.  This practice started in the early 1900′s as doctors in the US worked to woo women from the care of midwives.  By depicting pregnancy as a process that was harmful and unnatural, Western medicine has and continues to line their coffers with money from unnecessary and damaging interventions, most of which have not been proven to provide any benefits for mother or baby.  A few examples include episiotomies, inductions, electronic fetal monitoring, and repeat caesarean sections.

As women begin to take back their pregnancy and birthing experiences, the view of pregnancy as harm will fall to the wayside.  This has already begun as the rates of natural births, homebirths, and the use of midwives continue to increase.  The midwifery model of care recognizes pregnancy and childbirth as a natural process.  These pregnancy and birthing practices have consistently been proven to be safer for mother and child, and they are more cost-effective.  The World Health Organization provide evidence that the midwifery model of care results in lower lower infection rates, lower C-section rates, fewer complications and healthier outcomes.

Returning to Dr. Kraft’s final conclusions, he contends that by viewing pregnancy as harm the social obligation to mitigate the effects of the harm shifts from voluntary to involuntary.  We must protect pregnant women.  They are being harmed! Yes, society has a social responsibility to support pregnant women, but it isn’t because they are in a continuous state of harm, and, thus, vulnerable.  It is because pregnant women are humans with rights and needs.  This means that women’s rights should not be violated and their needs ought to be met.  This includes reproductive choice from abortion through the ways in which women give birth, as well as pre-natal and post-natal support.

Sadly, these rights are heavily regulated at the state and federal level, and these benefits are largely non-existent. To this end, the US lags behind every other industrialized nation in the world in implementing social policy that benefits women throughout pregnancy and during a child’s first years.  This includes a lack of prenatal care, maternity leave, and child care, to just name a few.  If you want to mitigate harm to pregnant women, deregulate women’s choices in pregnancy and childbirth and implement policies that support growing families.

Viewing pregnant women as vulnerable, weak and in a state of harm is an affront to women’s strength and robs women of their agency throughout their pregnancy. Pregnancy is a natural process that women should be able to choose to undertake at a point in their lives when they feel ready to do so. Pregnancy, childbirth and childcare should be viewed as a public good.  We have a social responsibility to support women and caregivers because their work contributes to our quality of life, and the benefits are universal.   Not because they are being harmed.

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Categories Pregnancy

Elizabeth Wurtzel is Killing Feminism.

June 20, 2012 //
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Elizabeth Wurtzel, the author of Prozac Nation, published an editorial on TheAtlantic.com last week in which she lambasted feminism in a number of ways.  In a nutshell, Wurtzel stipulates that to be or contribute to the feminist movement you have to be just like her.  That is, you must participate in the androcentric economic system made by and for men.  Only then can you contribute to the feminist movement because you are a “real” feminist.

Let’s please be serious grown-ups: real feminists don’t depend on men. Real feminists earn a living, have money and means of their own….Feminism should not be inclusive, and like most terms that are meaningful, it should mean something. It should mean equality. And there really is only one kind of equality — it precedes all the emotional hullabaloo — and it’s economic.

Clearly Wurtzel hasn’t heard of or employed the term feminisms.  The feminist movement isn’t comprised of a single bloc of homogeneous women, but a diverse and disparate group of individuals: both male and female, old and young, multiple ethnicities, rich and poor, gay, straight, bi or trans, or, simply, all or none of the above. This diverse group of individuals ensures that feminism, both theory and movement, is composed of a rich tapestry of thought and opinion.  Sometimes convergent, sometimes divergent. This is why we refer to feminism as feminisms – to acknowledge the diversity of thought and action.

The recognition of diversity within feminism is also called intersectionality.  It is a focus on the varying dimensions of an individual and the ways in which they identify themselves. This includes class, gender, sexuality, physical ability, ethnicity, and nationality, to name a few .  Intersectional analysis recognizes that an individual cannot be considered a member of any one social category, but a product of various shifting societal groups.

One of the primary obstacles faced by the 2nd wave of the feminist movement was the tunnel vision employed by the movement’s leaders.  These leaders were primarily white and educated women of middle or upper class station.  Their concerns were not the same as poor women, women of color, or queer women. They were polarizing in their singular focus on social change that benefited them, while ignoring the needs of intersectional groups of women.

Wurtzel has fallen into the same trap as the 2nd wave feminists. She argues that one can only be a feminist if they are self-sufficient, participating in the traditional economic system. She claims that work that men or women may do within the home is something, but not work.

Hilary Rosen would not have been so quick to be so super sorry for saying that Ann Romney has never worked a day in her life if we weren’t all made more than a wee bit nervous by our own biases, which is that being a mother isn’t really work. Yes, of course, it’s something — actually, it’s something almost every woman at some time does, some brilliantly and some brutishly and most in the boring middle of making okay meals and decent kid conversation. But let’s face it: It is not a selective position. A job that anyone can have is not a job, it’s a part of life, no matter how important people insist it is (all the insisting is itself overcompensation). Even moms with full-time jobs spend 86 percent as much time with their kids as unemployed mothers, so it is apparently taking up the time of about 14 percent of a paid position. And all the cultish glorification of home and hearth still leaves us in a world where most of the people paid to chef and chauffeur in the commercial world are men. Which is to say, something becomes a job when you are paid for it — and until then, it’s just a part of life

What Wurtzel fails to acknowledge is that this “way of life” becomes work when exported out of the family.  Paying for day care, employing a nanny, hiring someone to clean your house – these are all jobs that people are paid to do every day.  So, I guess it is a job when you pay the nanny to do it, but not if you are doing it for yourself.

Economics is concerned with the organization, production and consumption of goods and services.  The standard economic system in the US contains specific gender biases.  It ignores production and distribution that doesn’t occur within the market; it does not value unpaid labor and goods and services produced for immediate consumption; and, most importantly, women consistently fare worse in market economies.  This is largely due to the fact that women bare the brunt of childcare and household responsibilities which impact their ability to participate in the standard labor market. Despite this, social policy within the US is engineered to cater to only those that do participate in the market.  This applies to benefits such as retirement plans, health care plans, social security, and unemployment insurance.  Even policies designed for low-income individuals such as TANF and the Earned Income Tax Credit is predicated upon the belief that work done at home is insignificant.

Wurtzel’s androcentric perspective supports the arguments made by the male crafters of our social policy and our economic system. Labor within the home is not work.  Therefore, we do not need to adjust policy to provide benefits to these individuals for their work.  Even though most other industrialized nations do so.

The 1% wives aren’t going to be the demise of feminism. The demise of feminism will come from individuals such as Ms. Wurtzel who insist on a unilateral vision for feminism that fails to consider the housewives in middle America or the labor that both men and women contribute within their family. This labor largely goes unrecognized by both markets and government within the US, despite the fact that it is an unquestionable contribution to the public good.  To use an economic term, this has a trickle down effect which occludes policy that would work to level the playing field.

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Categories Public Policy

A Comparative Perspective on Family Benefits

April 20, 2012 //
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Hillary Rosen made an inappropriate and unfortunate comment last week.  She stated that Ann Romney, stay-at-home mother of five children and wife to gazillionaire Mitt Romney, “never worked a day in her life.”

This comment quickly ignited a debate about women, work and family.  The debate lasted for about a week.  Those on the right self-righteously claimed that women’s work in the home is work, by God.  Family values! Those on the left quickly rushed to reassure the women’s voting block that the Left loves both working mums and stay-at-home mums.

As many pointed out, Ann Romney had the freedom to stay at home with her kids because her husband has been incredibly successful throughout his career, amassing millions upon millions of dollars.  Being a stay-at-home mum is an option when you have a carte blanche budget.  Because of this, Mrs. Romney made a choice to stay home with her children.

Others pointed out that income inequality in the US does not allow for women to make a choice between a full-time career and full-time parenting.  Seventy-five percent of mothers in the US are in the workforce, with half of these women working as the primary breadwinner in their family. The organization MomsRising states:

The three-quarters of moms who are in the labor force are struggling with rampant wage hits that regularly come with motherhood, as well as with a lack of access to family-friendly policies like: earned sick days, paid family leave, and affordable early learning that most other nations take as a given. Some even end up having to leave needed jobs because they don’t have access to paid family leave after the birth of a new child to recover and give the newborn a healthy start, or because they get fired when kids get sick like Marianne, who is featured in this NPR story today, or because wages don’t cover the high cost of childcare (which in many states costs more than college). It’s easy to see how without such family-friendly policies in place, having a baby became a leading cause of poverty spells in our nation–a time when income dips below what’s needed for food and rent.

Other than the efforts of advocacy organizations like MomsRising, NOW, or Feminist Majority Foundation, the debate is largely over without any side really delving into the policy issues concerning women, work and family.  This is disappointing.  Advocacy organizations can advocate until they turn blue, but real policy change must come from our elected representatives or the citizenry at-large.

Isn’t that a bleak thought?

As is often the case, the US lags far behind all other industrialized countries in regards to family policy.  When people hear the term family policy they typically think of maternity or paternity leave for the birth or adoption of a child.  As many families may already know, the US does a woeful job in ensuring women and men have paid time off of work when they birth or adopt a child. What many people don’t realize is that most every other industrialized country in the world goes much further than paid family leave by offering a continuum of family benefits: in-kind, in-cash, and in-time benefits.  Again, the US falls woefully behind in supporting families.  Unfortunately, women often bear the brunt of this burden.

Family policies often come in a variety of forms including family allowances, childcare and early education, and parental leave. Eighty-eight countries across the globe provide family allowances for the addition of a child to the family.  Some countries offer this benefit universally, regardless of income.  Others offer it selectively, based upon income and asset levels.  Quality childcare is provided either free, or nearly free of charge, by the state in most industrialized countries.  Maternity leave is offered in every other industrialized country in the world.  In Europe, which provides the strongest benefits, paid leave ranges from six weeks prior to birth and eight weeks after birth (Germany) to 60 weeks of paid leave in Sweden.  Paid leave typically refers to 80% to 100% of salary and is means-tested in only a small collection of countries.

These family policies serve to mitigate the effects of raising children such as avoiding poverty, compensation for the cost of children, enabling employment, gender equity, supporting early childhood development and sustaining or increasing fertility rates (Thevenon, 2011). Needless to say, the US’s record is abysmal when it comes to supporting families. However, pundits, advocates, representatives and citizens fail to ask why our policies are so anti-family.  Who benefits from these policies? Or, asked another way, which organizations and individuals would fight legislation creating these benefits? Why? If you are against these benefits, can you provide a brief explanation?

The way I see it, the US was built upon the ideas of individualism and free enterprise. I would first categorize our lack of family benefits as an issue related to our economic system; that is, the exuberant pro-Capitalism economic approach in the US.  Family policies require that corporate America relinquish its GI Joe Kung-fu grip on America. I would then chalk up the absence of family policy to our anti-state tradition, which dates back to the Puritans and Plymouth Rock.  This anti-statism results in a distrust in government and an anti-tax philosophy. Lastly, I would attribute an absence of family policy to the lack of female representatives at the local, state, and federal level of government.  The US is ranked 78th in the world in female representatives at the federal level. In case you are wondering, that’s 26 spots behind Pakistan, 40 spots behind Iraq, and 45 spots behind Afghanistan. Women benefit the most from family policies, but without women in government to advocate for these policies, it just hasn’t happened.

The combination of these elements has created a system that is inequitable as well as unsustainable. It allows rampant discrimination against women and places low-income and middle-class families at a distinct advantage.  Because we don’t see our families and our children as public goods, we neglect them.  This results in long-term damage to the fabric of society. Something has got to give.

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Categories Politics

Handmaid’s Tale Redux.

April 11, 2012 //
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I am alarmed and for good reason.  The continued attack on women’s basic human rights in the US is alarming not just for women, but also for children, for men, for all of humanity. The epicenter of the attack is the women’s uterus, with women depicted only as carriers of uteri and the contents found within.

As women, we have been compared to caterpillars, cows and pigs, and priority for reproductive choice has been offered to horses over humans.

The current attacks on women’s rights inspired a return to Margaret Atwood’s novel, The Handmaid’s Tale (1986).  In short, The Handmaid’s Tale paints the picture of a dystopian monotheocracy where women are of little value outside of their ability to reproduce. The Handmaid’s Tale was widely praised within the sphere of science fiction literature, even winning the Nebula Award, an honor bestowed annually for the best piece of science fiction writing. Yet, Atwood has repeatedly made the claim that her work, especially The Handmaid’s Tale, is not science fiction, but speculative fiction.  Atwood states:

No, it certainly isn’t science fiction. Science fiction is filled with Martians and space travel to other planets, and things like that. That isn’t this book at all. The Handmaid’s Tale is speculative fiction in the genre of Brave New World and Nineteen Eighty-Four. Nineteen Eighty-Four was written not as science fiction but as an extrapolation of life in 1948. So, too, The Handmaid’s Tale is a slight twist on the society we have now.

In short, speculative fiction resides within the realm of possibility.  It is plausible that the events that speculative fiction writers conjure up may come to be. In the case of The Handmaid’s Tale, women are subjugated sex slaves.  Their value resides solely in their ability to reproduce with “Commanders”, or leading men of the monotheocracy.  Women have no rights, they are stifled, restricted, and demeaned on a daily basis. It certainly sounds fantasticial, doesn’t it?

Consider the following quotes by leading media personalities and elected officials:

  •  If we took away women’s right to vote, we’d never have to worry about another Democrat president. It’s a personal fantasy of mine. – Anne Coulter, Media Personality
  • We need you to come in and lock shields, and strengthen up the men who are going to the fight for you. To let these other women know on the other side — these planned Parenthood women, the Code Pink women and all of these women that have been neutering American men and bringing us to the point of this incredible weakness — to let them know that we are not going to have our men become subservient.  – Allen West (R, FL)
  • In reference to the Republican War on Women…“Well, for one thing, if the Democrats said we had a war on caterpillars, and mainstream media outlet talked about the fact that Republicans have a war on caterpillars, then we have problems with caterpillars.” Reince Priebus, RNC Chairman
  • Forcing women to have an ultrasound before an abortion is justified because they already made the decision to be vaginally penetrated when they got pregnant. – Republican Lawmaker
  • If these young women are being responsible and didn’t have the sex to begin with, we wouldn’t have this problem to begin with – New Hanover County, NC Board of Commissioners (in turning down federal funding for contraceptives)
  • A woman impregnated through rape should accept that horribly created gift. The gift of human life. Accept what God has given you and make the best of a bad situation. – Senator Rick Santorum (R)
  • The vast majority of abortions are matters of lifestyle convenience. – Todd Gilbert (R), Virgina State Legislature

Perhaps these quotes could be characterized as sensationalized, or simply taken out of context.  However, legislative action at the state and federal level supports the misogyny apparent within these quotes.  At the state level, over 1,100 provisions were introduced seeking to limit or eliminate women’s reproductive rights in 2011.  The war on women has expanded in 2012 with cuts to health care for low-income women, potential defunding of the Violence Against Women Act, and the creation of barriers to equal pay disputes.

All of these provisions seek to limit women’s constitutional right to equality.  They are rooted in the patriarchy and are based on deeply held misogynistic beliefs.  It isn’t so difficult to imagine a future that is led by the likes of Rick Santorum, Herman Cain, or many of the other male, Republican, elite.  This potential future strips women of their right to reproductive choice, it relegates them to the domestic sphere, and it undermines women’s ability to seek justice for violence and discrimination.  How have I come to these conclusions? Well, I simply examined the words and actions of the conservative Right, not so fantastical after all.

I will conclude with another quote from Atwood, which speaks to her impetus for writing The Handmaid’s Tale:

In addition, I found myself increasingly alarmed by statements made frequently by religious leaders in the United States; and then a variety of events from around the world could not be ignored, particularly the rising fanaticism of the Iranian monotheocracy. The thing to remember is that there is nothing new about the society depicted in The Handmaid’s Tale except the time and place. All of the things I have written about have–as noted in the “Historical Notes” at the end–been done before, more than once.  It is an imagined account of what happens when not uncommon pronouncements about women are taken to their logical conclusions. History proves that what we have been in the past we could be again.

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Categories Politics

Free Birth Control!

November 23, 2011 //
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Birth Control – love it or hate it – women use it every day.  In fact, a lot of us use it – about 99% of women between the ages of 18 and 44 have utilized contraception. In this case, it is safe to say we are the 99%. We scored a victory on the birth control front when the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) determined that contraceptives should be classified as primary care in accordance with the recommendation by the Institute of Medicine. Under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) all primary care is covered by private insurance companies without a co-pay.

Great news! Women can now eliminate an estimated $150 to $600 a year in co-pays for birth control pills. This means that as we move towards universal coverage under the PPACA, most women will have affordable contraception at their finger tips. (Assuming the Republicans or the Supreme Court doesn’t find a way to overturn it, but that’s a blog for another day.) This is integral to family planning as well as a whole slew of additional issues addressed through the use of birth control pills such as acne, endometriosis, Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, debilitating cramps, and cycle regulation, to name a few. Also, providing contraceptives at no cost might also lower the rate of unintended pregnancies, the abortion rate, and the increasing costs of government programs providing care for low-income pregnant women and children.

This is a big deal. Contraception is health care for women. The ability to plan and prevent pregnancy has been found to lower health risks to mother and child, as well as having a direct and positive effect on women’s mental health.  But, we can’t count our chickens yet.  Our success hasn’t been celebrated by all. In fact, our success is causing a number of men to gnash their teeth and wring their hands based on our impending immorality. Two hundred and ninety-one Catholic bishops, to be exact.

Since the DHHS’s decision, the US Council of Catholic Bishops has been lobbying Obama to expand the religious exemption written into the PPACA. Their argument hinges on religious freedom.  By requiring private insurance carriers to reimburse medical care related to birth control without a co-pay, the Bishops claim that the government is infringing on their religious freedom. This mandate will force religious institutions to purchase health insurance policies that cover services that they are opposed to based upon the teachings of the church. The current exemption excludes any nonprofit organization that “Has the inculcation of religious values as its purpose; primarily employs persons who share its religious tenets; and primarily serves persons who share its religious tenets.” Essentially, this definition applies to churches providing health insurance for their employees.  If USCCB has its way, the exemption will extend to any organization affiliated with a church that is opposed to contraception for moral reasons.

This is huge.  This applies to nonprofits, universities, and hospitals that employ tens of thousands of women. If the USCCB lobby is successful, many women will have their employer’s religious beliefs imposed upon them and their personal decisions.  How’s that for religious freedom?

Sidenote:  Where in your conscience clause does it sanction your good ole boy club to cover up tens of thousands of pedophilia cases across the entire globe?

Many speculate that Obama will make his decision over the holiday weekend. A number of organizations have campaigns to fight the extension. Click on any of the links to add your name to a petition:

ACLU 

Catholics for Choice

Feminist Majority Foundation

Emily’s List 

NARAL Pro-Choice America 

Planned Parenthood

Alternatively, give the guy a call yourself and tell him how thankful you are that he supports women.  You can reach the White House comment line at 202-456-1111 or submit a comment here:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/submit-questions-and-comments

Have a fabulous Thanksgiving!

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Categories Uncategorized, Women's Health

The S*%t Your Mother Didn’t Tell You.

November 16, 2011 //
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Ladies, there are some things that our mothers didn’t tell us. Turns out a vast majority of women and girls are in the dark about the reproductive bits below the waistline that bring us some much pleasure (and pain).  A large portion of the female population avoid the bits, otherwise known as vagina, flower, cunt, hooha, pee-pee, vajayjay, hoochie, coochie, cooter, pocketbook, muff, cookie, amongst others, until they start thinking about a baby.  All of a sudden all eyes turn to the bottomless black hole, with deposits made every 24 to 48 hours, fingers crossed, hoping to see a positive home pregnancy test.

But what happens when a miraculous little bundle doesn’t emerge in 9 months time? Confusion. Anger. Pain. Angst. Disgruntelment. Grief. Discouragement. You name it, and the emotion has popped up in the breeding woman’s brain.  Who knew that having a baby would be so difficult?  Well, as it turns out, most of us don’t know.  A recent survey by a leading infertility group found that of those surveyed (1,000 women) less than half could answer 7 out of 10 fertility questions correctly.  Fun facts covered in the survey include the average number of months for a young 20-something to get pregnant (5 months) and the chance of a 30-year-old conceiving during any given cycle (20%).

The fact of the matter is that our fertility declines dramatically from the late 20’s.  This, combined with new cultural norms that include marrying later, establishing a career, and readily available contraception, means that 20% of women are delaying baby-making until they are 35 or older.  However, by the time you are 35 your fertile years are largely behind you and the risk factors for you and baby only increase as you age.

This misinformation extends much further than our fecundity.  Most women don’t have basic knowledge of their reproductive cycle.  Even worse, medical practitioners don’t have much of a clue, either.  Toni Weschler, author of Taking Charge of Your Fertility and leading women’s health educator, was inspired to write a book based on the vast dearth of information regarding women’s bodies and cycles.  She writes:

When I first embarked upon writing this book a dozen years ago, I had hoped to spark a grassroots movement among women frustrated with the lack             of information they are given about their bodies and cycles.  As I had anticipated, the empowering information contained in these pages has struck a             huge cored with hundreds of thousands of women – women who were seeking a safe and effective form of natural birth control, women who wanted to           get pregnant, or those who just wanted to finally take control of their gynecological and sexual health.

Weschler goes on to note that a basic natural understanding of a women’s cycle is not offered in medical schools.  Her response? She included an appendix that one removes from the book and places in the hands of their healthcare practitioner.  She also notes that in our market-driven society, keeping women in the dark is profitable.  Contraceptives in all their shapes and forms make billions of dollars annually, but also provide a lot of pain and grief for those of us that partake.

Some blame this misinformation on feminism.  “I’m not a feminist but I see no reason that feminism must be anti-science. It serves no one.”  Feminism isn’t at the root of this lack of information.  Science as we know it is at the root of this misinformation.  Were feminists whispering in your ear telling you NOT to marry young? Were feminists encouraging you to wait until you married to have a baby?  Were the feminists preventing you from asking your doctor about your fertility?  OMG! Do you think the feminists made sure to tell your OBGYN to keep the secret from you?!  Those bitches.  How could they?

Really, this is about the lack of information and widespread misinformation about the female mind and body.  A completely inspiring and thoughtful book that will provide more information about the female body than you ever thought possible is Natalie Angier’s Woman: An Intimate Geography.  Angier, a Pulitzer prize winning author, presents a grand tome of the female anatomy informing and challenging the reader all the way to the end.  In short, it is incredible.

Wanna know where a lot of this started?  Check out Our Bodies, Ourselves.  The book has its origin in a homemade leaflet made by 12 women who were tired of the crap their doctors were telling them.  The book turned into a cultural phenomenon and has schooled women (and hopefully men) since 1970.   You can buy it on Amazon, or check out the website for more information and links to older editions.

In the meantime, check out your cervical mucus.

(Note: Toni Weschler and Natalie Angier do not know who I am, and I did not get paid to promote their books on this site.  Also, the feminist bitches did not harass, coerce, or torture me in any way in revealing or hiding useful information.)

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Categories feminism, Women's Health

Sexual Harassment is Illegal

November 7, 2011 //
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You know, sexual harassment is illegal.  Would someone please inform the public?  We’ve been inundated with news regarding presidential hopeful Herman Cain’s alleged transgressions this past week, with a tally of at least four women claiming to be harassed by Cain during his tenure at the National Restaurant Association.  Meanwhile, Cain is leading in many Republican primary straw polls and the Washington Post reports that his campaign contributions are up this past week.  People are not deterred by the charges, in fact they are giving him money to become the next leader of the free world.  Women’s rights are already lagging behind men.  What happens when the leader of the free world feels as if it is okay to harass women at whim and without repercussions?

Meanwhile, harassment is occurring not just at the National Restaurant Association, but in high schools and junior high schools across the nation.  A recent report by the American Association for University Women (AAUW) found that approximately half of students report being sexually harassed during the school year.  Fifty-two percent of girls in grades 7 – 12 reported harassment in person, and 36% online.  Thirty-six percent of boys said they were harassed in person, and 24% reported harassment online.  Perhaps the harassers are just taking their cues from those in charge.

Sexual harassment sucks.  It doesn’t feel good, it undermines our ability to work and learn, and it is illegal.  The Feminist Majority has a list of behaviors that constitute sexual harassment, as well as a list of action items that one can engage in to stop the harassment.  I’ve also included numbers to call for assistance and guidance below.

Sexual harassment is a real problem in the United States.  What can you do about it? Protect yourself and speak up.  Also, be sure to voice your concerns to anyone that will listen that the anyone that wants to be a leader of the free world should respect all humans.  Herman Cain does not (allegedly) fit the bill.

U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)

(The federal agency that enforces workplace anti-discrimination laws)
(800) 669-4000: Toll-free phone number that automatically connects you to your local EEOC office.
(415) 356-5100: San Francisco, CA local office
(510) 637-3230: Oakland, CA local office
www.eeoc.gov

All other states, check the U.S. government pages of the telephone book for your local offices.

U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights (OCR)
(The federal agency that enforces school anti-discrimination laws)
(800) 421-3481 (415) 556-4275: San Francisco, CA local office
www.ed.gov/offices/OCR

All other states, check the U.S. government pages of the telephone book for your local offices.


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Categories feminism, Politics, Violence Against Women

Women, War and Peace

October 14, 2011 //
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Last night I attended a panel discussion co-hosted by SoCal PBS and the Center for Living Peace.  The discussion focused on the ongoing five week documentary series Women, War and Peace.  The panelists included Geena Davis, for her work with woman and media, Abigail Disney, activist and documentary filmmaker, as well as Roxanne Varzie, a UC Irvine associate professor of anthropology and film and media studies.  The panelists were fantastic and passionate, speaking about both gender and media and gender and war.

I don’t usually tear up at events like these.  I usually walk away with renewed energy and a sense of direction and purpose.  However, the first individual to ask a question in a crowded room, a slight teenager, transported me to an emotionally shaky place.  This very brave young woman stood up and explained that many boys at her high school made fun of girls and their efforts to promote equal rights.  She then asked for advice on how to engage boys in the fight for equal rights.

Tear. Anger. Tear.

Why is this still a question?  How many generations of women will continue to ask these questions?

It is at moments like this that I feel as if the weight of humanity, both the past and future, lies heavy on our collective shoulders.  We carry the past with us and we carry the responsibility to future generations with us on a daily basis.  We cannot afford to let this burden go.

Here are the panelists three answers:

1) You probably have a mother, a sister, an aunt, a grandmother, a cousin, a girlfriend, a partner, or a wife.  They are all reasons to fight for equality.

2) Fighting for equal rights is not a win/lose scenario.  If women gain equal rights in all arenas and domains, men do not lose.  They will also gain.  All of humanity will win.

3) It is the right thing to do.

I bet they didn’t tell you that in your social studies class, huh?

The five part documentary series discusses the impact of war on women, and women’s impact on war and peace across the globe.   The five documentaries will air on consecutive Tuesdays on SoCal PBS’s starting on October 11, 2011, and are as follows – I Came to Testify, Pray the Devil Back to Hell, Peace Unveiled, The War We Are Living, War Redefined.

Pray the Devil Back to Hell is available via Netflix, but you might have to search longer to watch the others.  I will try to watch and post a recap for those that can’t watch the original airing or get their hands on a copy.

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Categories Film & Television

Bueller..? Bueller…?

October 10, 2011 //
1

This is my inaugural journey into the world of blogging.  I’ve cut and pasted my About section to get the ball rolling.  If you are out there reading, I would love to hear from you!

Radical/Period is a double entendre used to indicate the radical period of economic distress, political uncertainty, and radical change we are experiencing, as well as the politicized state of women across the globe.   Here radical implies an extreme state or condition and period refers to a span of time in addition to the  cyclical process often used to define the nature of women.

A Radical/Period was created out of a reaction and a need for action!  I was inspired to create a blog because I kept on thinking of blurbs and snippets that I wanted to post on Facebook.  It took me a while to realize that my blurbs and snippets weren’t reaching my 2nd grade teacher or my mom’s next door neighbor.  I firmly believe that many people have since blocked my comments on their Facebook Wall.

Apropo, I believe the personal is political, and together we can make a difference.  Education and information is the first step in achieving equality for all regardless of gender, sexuality, class, race, religion, or any other socially constructed framework that divides and pits individuals against one another.   Here I want to raise awareness about issues of concern that are specific to women, as well as ways individuals can react to create change.  You can expect a blog that is unabashedly, fearlessly feminist, and the political perspective is decidedly progressive.   Thanks for joining me on the journey.

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